Next Steps for the Haiti Mission

14 Jun

Tom with Haitian pastor Ford Estima at the retreat last month

The challenges and scope of the need for Church in Haiti are great. Addressing these needs also requires a high level of tactical planning, since there is a minimal level of infrastructure in the country. We’re not going for quick, band-aid fixes; we want the Haitian Church to have a legacy.

Here’s our strategy:

Identify and assessing churches: One of the ancillary objectives of the conference was to gather pastors in one location so we could get to know them, their ministries, and their needs. We are currently following up on a number of them.
Rebuild churches: Based on the pastors’ needs, we will either rebuild or repair churches. For starters, we are targeting 30 churches in the Jacmel area that CHC and Calvary Chapel Ft. Lauderdale are going to assist.
Reproduce this training: Many churches are part of regional leagues of churches. We are going to work through these local groups to organize similar events to the retreat we held in Port-au-Prince last month. CHC will be involved in two conferences in July, one in Jacmel and another in Verrettes.
Plant churches: In many cases, churches have swelled with new members in the wake of the earthquake. In some cases, Christians now have people meeting in their front yard and have inadvertently become the pastor. Last week, pastors were looking for guidance in church-planting to meet some of these needs. CHC is partnering with S.T.E.P., Acts 29, Harvest Bible Fellowship, and The Timothy Initiative to prayerfully consider how to address this.